Workers at the Ashalchinskoye bitumen field in Almatyevsky region of Tatarstan are now using advanced heavy oil rigs for recovering hydrocarbons. The Ashalchinskoye field belongs to Russia’s oil company Tatneft. 

The special oil rig Kremko-200M employing a horizontal drilling mechanism was produced in Canada.

Only five Kremko rigs of the 200M series have been produced in the world.

According to Mintimer Shaimiev, President of the republic of Tatarstan, the new rig synthesizes the latest advances in oil production.

The annual production volume for heavy oil is around 500 million metric tons. Largest heavy oil reserves in Russia are located in the republics of Komi and Tatarstan. Tatarstan’s reserves have been estimated at 7 billion tons, of which 1.7 billion can be easily accessed.

Oil producers from Tatarstan have been looking closely at the latest developments that have taken place in Canada. The rate of production of heavy oil in the republic is 70 tons per day.

The drilling at the Ashalchinskoye field was done with the use of Russian oil rigs. The initial horizontal wells were drilled in 2006 with the use of a simple vertical drilling rig. Altogether, six wells have been drilled. The rig from Canada was purchased in February of 2009, and the third set of well pairs was finished in June.     

Oil extraction at the Ashalchinskoye oilfield is facilitated by means of injecting steam into one shaft and collecting the hydrocarbons coming up to the surface through the other shaft.

Production targets for 2009 have been set at 27 thousand tons.

There are 450 bitumen fields in the republic of Tatarstan. The deposits are located at a depth of 80 to 200 meters below the ground. Tatneft controls 150 fields, of which a dozen is now ready for development.